DUBAI, September 29, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) The moon sighting of the holy month of Ramadan will not be possible Monday, October 3, due to a partial eclipse of the sun, which means that the beginning of the dawn-to-dusk fasting month will fall Wednesday, October 5, an Arab astronomer has revealed.

"A partial eclipse of the sun will occur Monday, October 3, before sunset, which will make it impossible to sight the Ramadan moon," Mohamed Owda, vice-chairman of the Arab Union for Astronomy and Space Sciences (AUASS)'s Moon sighting department, was quoted as saying by Al-Quds Press Wednesday, September 28.

Owda added that the sun eclipse will be partial in most Arab countries and annular in north Africa.

The sun eclipse will be visible in Europe, western Asia and most of Europe while it will not be seen in the Americas, Australia and north-western Asia, he maintained.

The annular eclipse of the sun differs from a total eclipse in which the moon appears too small, to a completely invisible sun.

As a result, the moon is surrounded by an intensely brilliant ring or annulus formed by the un-eclipsed outer perimeter of the sun's disk.

Lebanese Fast Wednesday

Within the same context, Lebanon will start observing the holy fasting month of Ramadan Wednesday, October 5, Shiite religious leader Mohamed Hussein Fadlallah announced Thursday, September 29.

"Reliable astrological calculations showed that the holy month of Ramadan will fall Wednesday, October 5, as it will not be possible to sight the Ramadan moon on Monday," he was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Fadlallah relies on the astrological calculations in deciding the beginning of the fasting month of Ramadan.

Moon sighting has always been a controversial issue among Muslim countries, and even scholars seem at odds over the issue.

While one group of scholars sees that Muslims in other regions and countries are to follow this sighting as long as these countries share one part of the night, another states that Muslims everywhere should abide by the lunar calendar of Saudi Arabia.

A third, however, disputes both views, arguing that Islam is against division and disunity, since Muslims, for instance, are not allowed to hold two congregational prayers in one mosque at the same time.

This group believes that the authority in charge of ascertaining the sighting of the moon in a given country (such as Egypt 's Dar al-Iftaa [House of Fatwa]) announces the sighting of the new moon, then Muslims in the country should all abide by this.